Fanning bounces back in Tahiti

Reigning world champion Mick Fanning bounced back with a blistering second round effort after action finally got underway at the Pro Tour event in Tahiti on Monday.

The 28-year-old Australian was beaten into second place by local favourite Tamaroa McComb in their opening round heat.

But Fanning responded in the second round, scoring 15.00 points out of a possible 20 to dispatch trials winner Tuamata Puhetini.

Surfers were relieved to finally be in the water after seven consecutive lay days, with some of the world's best relishing the 1.5-metre barrels on offer at Teahupoo.

Fellow Australian Taj Burrow, the current world number two and last year's event runner-up, suffered the biggest loss of the event so far, going down to wildcard Manoa Drollet in the second round of competition.

"I started out doing turns but I don't think that was a good strategy," Drollet said.

"Taj is so good at doing turns, so I tried to focus on barrels. Fortunately, the right ones came through and I was the winner. To do well here would be a very special thing for me."

Current world number one Jordy Smith was in the driver's seat for the 2010 world title heading into Tahiti, and despite not being historically dominant at Teahupoo, the young South African's progressive repertoire proved enough to net him the win.

"Definitely relieved to get through round one out there," Smith said.

"We haven't been doing too much on the off days. So it was tricky out there, but super excited to get through and start focusing on the next heat."

American star Kelly Slater survived a close-fought battle against former nemesis Andy Irons and wildcard Heiarii Williams to advance directly into round three.

"I actually blew it out there a couple times," Slater said.

"I let Heiarii (Williams) get underneath me on the really good wave, but if I ended up hassling him, Andy (Irons) could have got it.

"It's unfortunate when there are not a lot of waves, and I was trying to play cat and mouse with those guys for most of the heat.

"Heiarii paddled me deep on every set, he got me on one, and then I was too deep on another and Andy got it. It was tough."